SF Works - Working Resources Portal

SF Works partners with San Francisco companies to help entry-tier and low-wage workers apply for community resources and tax savings.

SF Works will set up "Working Resources Stations" at your workplace, where trained SF Works' staff will help you and your family determine your eligibility for discounted services & products, benefits, tax credits and other resources. Then, SF Works' staff will help you complete application forms and tell you the next steps required to complete certain applications.

Instead of visiting multiple city and nonprofit agencies and filling in multiple application forms to get you and your family the resources you need, you will be able to complete the same applications with a single 30-minute session at your workplace!

You are eligible for this free service if your annual household income is $40,000 (or $19.48/hour working full-time) or less.

Free tax help is available to anyone earning under $42,000/year, regardless of family size, immigration status, or where in the Bay Area you live. Find the free tax prep site nearest to you.

During the 2008 tax season, you can participate in a free benefits screening if you work for UCSF Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center or Kaiser Permanente, or if you work at certain restaurants in San Francisco. You will receive information at your workplace about how to participate.

No – they are easy. The whole process takes about 30 minutes. During the actual appointment, you will be asked a series of short questions by an SF Works staff person who will let you know which benefits, tax credits and other resources you qualify for. They will then work with you to apply for some of these programs on the spot, and to provide you with easy directions on how to apply for others.

During tax season, if you are eligible for tax credits and free assistance in filing your taxes, you could spend the next 30 minutes receiving free tax help, at the same location with a qualified tax preparer; or you will be given a list of nearby places where you can go to get free assistance preparing your taxes.

If you are not eligible for free tax credit assistance, you will be provided with a list of all of the tax credits you qualify for. Take this list to your tax preparer to make sure that you receive all of the credits when you file your taxes.

You can receive money – in the form of tax credits, discounts and savings, of up to $5,000 (or more!), depending on your eligibility for specific benefits & resources.

Here are two examples:

Jane Doe, a single mother of two children – one school-aged child and one in day care – living in San Francisco, earns $17/hour in her full-time job as a clerk, bringing home $34,400 in 2007. Jane can save up to $5,464:

John and Susan Smith live in San Francisco and have two school-aged children. John has a full-time job as a dishwasher at a small restaurant for minimum wage. In 2007, John earned $17,550. John and Susan can save as much as $8,469:

At your workplace.

During the 2008 tax season, you can participate in a free benefits screening if you work for UCSF Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center or Kaiser Permanente, or if you work at certain restaurants in San Francisco. You will receive information at your workplace about how to participate.

If your employer is not listed above, and you think that you and your colleagues could benefit from a Working Resources screening sessions, contact SF Works at (415) 217-5827or portal@sfworks.org. Your information will be confidential.

Appointment schedulers are available, Mondays – Fridays, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, to help you sign up for a session:

During this phone conversation, you will be asked if you have any special language assistance needs.

In order to screen and apply for tax credits and resources, it is important that you bring the following items. If you do not bring each of these, we will not be able to help you access additional savings:

• Recent PG&E bill with YOUR name and CURRENT address (if your landlord is the bill holder, we will give you a form to take back to your landlord to enter his/her customer id #. We will also provide a pre-addressed and pre-paid envelope for you/your landlord to mail the completed form to PG&E)
• Social Security numbers for each family member or Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITIN) for each working adult
• W-2 forms for all jobs worked in 2007
• All 1099 forms and other income forms
• Any tax forms you have
• A recent bank statement
• Child care provider information, if applicable
• Your bank routing and account numbers, if you have a checking or savings account, so your tax refund can be automatically deposited into your account!

Yes. None of the information discussed during the session will be shared with anyone, including your employer. SF Works and your free tax preparers are bound by legal agreements to uphold the confidentiality of everyone that we assist.

If you are eligible for tax credits, you will receive a check (or direct deposit into your bank account) from the IRS and/or the State of California. This usually occurs within one month after filing your taxes.

The Working Families Credit will be mailed to you in September as a separate check, or you may choose to have the money put into a savings bond in your or your child's name.

Benefits received from other organizations, such as PG&E, are processed individually by those organizations. We cannot provide you with information about when the discounts will begin. However, you will be provided with phone numbers you can call to check on the status of each of your applications.

No. The benefits screening is free to you and is provided by your employer.